In light of the new RAF program being launched, it makes sense Blizzard announced yesterday that Cataclysm is now included in the Battle Chest for only $19.99--this change makes it easier and cheaper for new players to catch up to their friends. For seasoned players, there's also a 33% off sale on Winged Guardian this week!

Talk Azeroth

We've got another episode of Talk Azeroth up with Olivia! This time, Olivia gets into the acronyms with a re-recorded (after the last one failed) version of Talk Azeroth 16. She's talking about the controversial match-ending debuff, The Crowd Chose You, and the upcoming changes to it, as well as touching on the Diminishing Returns system, answering your questions a

The fourth wing of Siege of Orgrimmar Flex, "Downfall," opened October 15th on US servers. This overview covers Downfall's Flex loot, Garrosh Heirlooms, vanity items, titles, Dungeon Journal, and more!

Flex mode does not require players to have a certain item level to zone in, but it does require you to queue with a premade group. You can have anywhere between 10 and 25 players. If you want to bulk up your gear in preparation, check out our gearing guide.

Patch 5.4 had many reputation changes, as well as the daunting Emperor Shaohao reputation to grind, so we've updated all of our popular Mists of Pandaria reputation guides! With the long weekend, it's the perfect time to finish up some rep grinds for mounts or other fun vanity items.

Of particular note:

Valor Points gear now costs Justice Points, existing ilvl 458 gear is now 75% cheaper, and no gear purchasable with a currency requires reputation. You can still buy these items from quartermasters, but you don't need any reputation to do so. Commander Lo Ping sells all the ilvl 458 Justice Point gear, and Commander Oxheart sells all the ilvl 489 Justice Point gear--a little confusing since he's the Valor quartermaster.

Our Emperor Shaohao guide now explains the pros and cons to each rep farming area, lists all the mobs that grant reputation, and includes details on the unique vanity items for Going To Need A Bigger Bag that they drop.

Our Golden Lotus guide lists the handful of quests that haven't been removed, describes new cooking recipes in the zone, new locations for rare elites, and other changes in the Vale.

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More Patch 5.4 hotfixes were posted last night, as well as a change to the arena tiebreaker spell The Crowd Chose You!!!. It will be replaced with Dampening where if a match should last for 10 minutes, all players in the Arena will begin to receive a stacking debuff that reduces healing done by 1% every 10 seconds.

Yesterday's hotfixes had a few raid tweaks, as well as fixes for outdoor bosses. The Ordon Sanctuary gate will no longer close when Ordos is in combat, which is great for players farming Shaohao reputation who got locked out when running back from the graveyard. The number of wolves that can be summoned by Moonfang's Call the Pack ability now has a limit as well.

The BlizzCon online sale also starts tomorrow for attendees and Virtual Ticket holders at October 11 at 10 a.m. PT. We won't know what the store items are until tomorrow, but so far the teaser image looks great!

Click the cut to read more about recent hotfixes and the virtual sale!